Eight boys now freed in daring rescues from Thai cave

The retrievals are getting faster: "Our rescuers can [now] shorten the operation time by two hours," he says. "Over 100 including 18 international cave divers took part in today’s operation." #thamluangcave

A press conference is beginning here in Mae Sai, after the successful retrieval of four boys from Tham Luang Nang Non cave this afternoon. “We are so happy to rescue another four,” says Narongsak Osatanakorn, the head of the joint command centre coordinating the operation.

He says the mission time is getting faster: rescuers have now shaved two hours off their initial estimate for the time it would take to ferry each boy out. The first operation today commenced at 11am and the first boy emerged around 4.30pm, according to some reports. That’s about five-and-a-half hours, much less than the 11 hour round-trip some divers were making to the boys earlier this week.

As it looks as if the rescue operation is on hold until tomorrow, we’re going to pause the blog for now. We’ll resume blogging if there are any more key developments or press conferences. In the meantime there’s more on Thai cave rescue section including this video update on today’s developments, and there’ll be a new live blog on Tuesday.

What we know so far

The Thai navy Seals have confirmed that eight boys have been rescued from the Tham Luang cave complex in Northern Thailand, after two separate rescue operations. A further four boys were rescued on Monday after four were rescued on Sunday.

A further four boys and their coach Ekapol Chantawong remain in the cave. The identities of the rescued boys have not been confirmed.

Thai public television broadcast live video of a medivac helicopters landing close to a hospital in the city of Chiang Rai. They were believed to be ferrying the rescued boys.

Thai prime minister, Prayut Chan-O-Cha has delayed a planned visit to the site so as not to disruption the rescue operation. He had been due at the site at 6pm but is remaining at nearby Chiang Rai where the rescued boys are being treated in hospital.

The operation to extract more of the boys began on Monday at 11am (5am BST). The same divers who managed to rescue four boys on Sunday were involved. Officials said that conditions were as good as they were on Sunday and that rain yesterday did not affect water levels inside the cave.

The threat of monsoon rains re-flooding the cave is not as acute as previously feared, according to forecasters. Rain has fallen away from the cave entrance today and the chance of rain over the next two days is considered low.

The authorities complained about some of yesterday’s media coverage, saying a drone was flown above the operation. They also claimed media outlets listened to police radio reports.

The rescued boy are being kept in isolation in the hospital to avoid the risk of infection. Medics are considering whether to allow their parents to see them through a glass door.

The four boys rescued on Sunday have asked to eat a pad krapow. The dish is a favourite comfort food made with Thai basil.

In an email, he says rainfall today was mostly in foothills away from the cave and tomorrow will see less rain.

He writes: “Monsoon rain patterns are very local. On Wednesday strong rainfall will happen about 30km or 50km north of the Tham Luang region, while the area around the cave will see little precipitation, and even less than today or tomorrow. The lack of signficant rain with support pumping of the flooded caverns.”

Reports: seventh and eighth boy rescued

What we know so far

Two more boys have been rescued from the Tham Luang cave complex in Northern Thailand, officials have told the Guardian. Six boys have been rescued and six more and their coach remain in the cave.

Sources at the site said a fifth boy emerged before 5pm and had left the entrance. A six boy emerged an hour later, sources said.

Thai public television broadcast live video of a medivac helicopter landing close to a hospital in the city of Chiang Rai. It was believed to be carrying the fifth boy to be rescued.

Thai prime minister, Prayut Chan-O-Cha has delayed a planned visit to the site so as not to disruption the rescue operation. He had been due at the site at 6pm but is remaining at nearby Chiang Rai where the rescued boys are being treated in hospital.

The operation to extract more of the boys began on Monday at 11am (5am BST). The same divers who managed to rescue four boys on Sunday were involved. Officials said that conditions were as good as they were on Sunday and that rain yesterday did not affect water levels inside the cave.

Authorities complained about some of yesterday’s media coverage, saying a drone was flown above the operation. They also claimed media outlets listened to police radio reports.

The rescued boy are being kept in isolation in the hospital to avoid the risk of infection. Medics are considering whether to allow their parents to see them through a glass door.

The four boys rescued on Sunday have asked to eat a pad krapow. The dish is a favourite comfort food made with Thai basil.

AP describes the difficulty of getting officials to go on the record about the details of the rescue operations.

Thai authorities are being tight-lipped about who was inside an ambulance seen leaving the site, as they were the night before when four of the 13 people trapped inside the underground complex were rescued.

Multiple calls to senior government officials and military personnel leading the operation to rescue the members of the youth soccer team rang unanswered Monday evening.

On Sunday, officials waited until several hours after the rescued boys had been transported to hospitals to announce their rescue.